Zombies entered the village and groaned while circling the villagers' houses.
The iron golem still patrolling the settlement started to demonstrate why it's here.
It attacked with devastating punches, eliminating each zombie with brutal strikes.
After the zombies perished, they dropped various materials and small glowing orbs that scattered across the ground. Clara noticed through the gaps in the doors and windows that something resembling a blueprint had also fallen among the loot.
She wasn't alone in reaching this stage either. Many players had progressed far enough that nighttime had fallen in their individual worlds.
Other players had been studying how to use the crafting table when they were suddenly startled by zombies appearing out of nowhere. Some players who couldn't escape in time found themselves surrounded by shambling hordes.
[Holy crap, I thought this game didn't have monsters, but I got completely surrounded! Scared the hell out of me...]
[I was still outside exploring when a skeleton archer suddenly shot me. I couldn't run because monsters were everywhere, and I got sent straight back to the spawn point.]
[You guys are only just realizing this? When I was exploring the map earlier, I ran into a mine and discovered it was absolutely packed with monsters.]
[Smart as I am, I just surrounded myself with blocks. Problem solved!]
Jose was also playing at this time.
He was currently using his blocky fists to punch the monsters repeatedly, but without any proper weapon, his damage output was pathetically low.
He could only knock zombies back while running away desperately.
Monsters appeared no matter where he went, though. And it wasn't just zombies either, but also skeleton archers and spiders lurking in the shadows.
"Damn it, I can't kill them all! There's just too many of them!"
Even when he spent considerable effort killing one monster, another immediately took its place in the endless swarm.
[You obtained Rotten Flesh x2]
[You obtained Arrow]
[You obtained a Blueprint]
[Your experience has increased]
Fighting while retreating, he didn't even have time to examine the dropped items properly. He had no idea where he'd ended up by now.
Seeing that he'd temporarily escaped the monsters' encirclement, he knew he had to act fast.
There was no other choice. He needed to find a place to hide immediately.
He thought for a moment, and then his eyes suddenly lit up.
He quickly started digging straight down beneath his feet.
He soon excavated a hole three blocks deep, jumped inside immediately, and sealed the opening above his head.
His vision plunged into complete darkness. Soon after, the moans of zombies echoed from above, but they obviously couldn't locate Jose and could only wander around in aimless circles.
"It works!"
Jose's eyes lit up with triumph despite the darkness surrounding him.
I really am a genius!
Everything around him was completely black, and he couldn't see anything, so he began checking his inventory to pass the time.
A monster had definitely dropped a blueprint earlier during the chaos.
He opened his inventory to examine it, and sure enough, there it was.
[Wooden Pickaxe Blueprint]
Plank - Plank - Plank
Empty - Stick - Empty
Empty - Stick - Empty
"Huh!"
Seeing this blueprint laid out visually, he instantly understood the working principle of the crafting table. Items were crafted by arranging different types of blocks in specific patterns.
With this discovery in hand, he planned to experiment immediately.
The darkness prevented him from doing anything, though, so he could only wait until dawn arrived.
After waiting for what felt like an eternity, the sounds of the monsters overhead began to change dramatically.
They seemed to be taking some kind of damage and started screaming in agony. After a short while, there was no more movement outside at all.
Only then did Jose hurriedly dig out the block above his head.
Emerging into the daylight, he saw that the monsters outside were all being consumed by flames in the sunlight. They all perished before long under its burning rays.
So these monsters are weak of sunlight!
Not all monsters died, though. Some individual creatures didn't seem to fear the sun's touch.
Others sheltering under trees that blocked the light were also perfectly fine.
He found a safe location and began conducting his experiments.
He placed the planks and sticks in the correct order according to the blueprint.
Click.
A wooden pickaxe materialized before his eyes.
Then inspiration struck him, and he began making various other attempts to see what else he could create.
Meanwhile, many players with strong experimental instincts had already discovered various tool crafting recipes on their own.
[Heh heh heh, brothers, I figured out the crafting recipe for a sword!]
[Someone share the crafting formula for a sword, please! I have the axe recipe, and I'll trade! Desperately need a weapon for self-defense!]
[I also got a blueprint drop, and it's for a furnace!]
[The crafting diagrams in this game seem to be just hints. As long as you place materials in the right positions, you can make the corresponding item.]
[I've made my blueprints public for everyone to see. Everyone's welcome to share theirs too!]
Within a short time, countless blueprints and item crafting methods were figured out through collective effort.
Some players even started organizing everything into comprehensive tables.
As long as they were still playing Minecraft, most players noticed these shared resources and joined the collaborative effort one after another.
With the methods to manufacture tools now widely available, the players finally got on the right track and began exploring various regions with proper equipment.
[Brothers, I have a massive discovery to share!]
[Go on, elaborate.]
[Is no one curious about how big this world actually is? I started from the plains where I spawned and have been walking in one direction for several hours straight, but I still haven't reached the edge of the map.]
These words instantly sparked a heated discussion across the forums.
Everyone knew that even in Ark, which previously held the record for the largest map, the map had clear and defined limits. All dream game worlds have boundaries that are eventually reached.
But in Minecraft, so far, no player has reported reaching the end of the map, no matter how far they traveled.
[I noticed the same thing! I've walked from the forest to the plains, and now I've reached the desert. This map is absolutely enormous!]
[Maybe it's just because the world is so large that the distance to the edge is extremely far!]
[Do you guys think this map might actually be infinitely large?]
The thought suddenly occurred to several people simultaneously.
[How is that even possible? You're overthinking this. Even the most powerful dream designer couldn't design an infinite world!]
As soon as someone voiced that guess, others immediately refuted it.
After all, suggesting such a thing seemed far too outrageous to be true.
At least in the entire history of the Moon Elves, an infinitely large world had never appeared before. A world the size of a kingdom was already considered the work of an exceptionally impressive designer.
Others discovered a crucial detail that raised even more questions.
[Some of you spawned in a forest? Didn't we all start in the plains?]
[What? You spawned in the plains? I spawned in the desert!]
[I'm at the seaside and I'm still floating in the water...]
[My spawn point was in the snowy lands, and I'm freezing to death!]
[The plains I spawned in are only about two hundred meters away from a village. Lucky me!]
[What? There are villages in this game? Why haven't I seen a damn thing? I was wondering where the villagers from the promotional video came from.]
[Yeah, I've been running for ages and haven't encountered a single soul!]
[Brothers, I've struck it rich! I found three diamonds, four iron ingots, a metal sword, and loads of food in a blacksmith's chest. That clueless villager didn't even react when I took his things, so I just bolted. Score!]
[Wait, what?!]
[What kind of insane luck does that guy have!]
[There are valuable items like that just lying around? I've also found a village, so I'm checking it out right now!]
A massive cross-checking session began immediately among the players, and once they started comparing notes, they realized something didn't add up.
Hey guys, very, very important notice! Please Read!
So, we have caught up with all of the raws for this story.
The original author dropped it, and I intend to continue writing it myself.
I will go on a roughly one-week hiatus now, in order to make a coherent plan as to how I want to continue. Any suggestions you might have are welcome.
At first, I will take this one week to familiarize myself with Terraria, to bring the current arc to a sensible and satisfying end, without getting anything wrong, so I have to do some research. After that, I will release roughly 1-3 chapters per week, with more content per chapter, to make up for the lack of everyday posts. I will try my best to make it a really nice read, and I am happy about any support from you guys. Feel free to check out my p@treon in a week, if you like. I will release the first chapter. I will write myself for everyone to read for free, so you can take a look at the quality and my style of writing and decide for yourselves whether you wanna keep supporting and reading this story.
Thank you for your consideration, and see you at the latest in a week^^